Does anyone have a good way to remember adiabatic vs diabatic, isothermal vs isobaric and isentropic? I'm not asking what them mean. I just have a hard to memorizing things sometimes, and I was wondering if there is something akin to a mnemonic device or something to help memorize different thermodynamics terms. Thanks!

Question

anonymous · Answer

i would play etymologist. look up the meanings of these words "iso" originates from greek and it means "equal" or "constant". for example "iso-baric" means "constant pressure"

the "bar" part of "isobar" comes from greek as well, it means "weight". well,  weight is a force (due to gravity), and pressure is force divided by volume. so isobaric means constant pressure.

for good mnemonics, ask the people who study for the MCAT.

anonymous · Answer

isobar: http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=TT#el/en/%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%82%20%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82

anonymous · Answer

This might sound stupid, but you could use Evernote on your phone or tablet to carry around the stuff you can't memorize or try making yellow sticky notes placed at various places where you'll see them and get the information refreshed until they sink in. I think memorization is over-relied on, you'll remember the things you use. Beyond that, remember the basic concepts, not the names, and you'll be fine.

anonymous · Answer

when term "iso" comes beginning of word it means equal or same.like isobaric process, this word describe a process that during this process pressure is constant or isoentropic related to enthropy.